Mrs. Ferrars
Character Analysis

The mother of Fanny, Edward, and Robert Ferrars. Mrs. Ferrars’ primary concern is to make sure her sons marry wealthy women. She is more concerned with gaining wealth and social status through their marriages than with the happiness of her own children. Mrs. Ferrars is particularly rude to Elinor, but is fond of Lucy when she first meets her. However, she becomes furious when she learns of Lucy and Edward’s engagement. She disinherits and practically disowns Edward for this engagement. Somewhat hypocritically, though, she easily forgives Robert for marrying Lucy at the end of the novel, mainly because Robert is her favorite son. While not a particularly admirable character, Mrs. Ferrars is a rare example of how women can exercise some power in 18th century society. As her family’s matriarch, she determines the inheritance of her children, and thus has an enormous amount of power (though both her sons end up thwarting her wishes).

Mrs. Ferrars Quotes in Sense and Sensibility

The Sense and Sensibility quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Ferrars or refer to Mrs. Ferrars. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Penguin Classics edition of Sense and Sensibility published in 2003.

Chapter 37
Quotes

All that Mrs. Ferrars could say to make him put an end to the engagement, assisted too as you may well suppose by my arguments, and Fanny's entreaties, was of no avail. Duty, affection, every thing was disregarded. I never thought Edward so stubborn, so unfeeling before. His mother explained to him her liberal designs, in case of his marrying Miss Morton; told him she would settle on him the Norfolk estate, which, clear of land-tax, brings in a good thousand a-year; offered even, when matters grew desperate, to make it twelve hundred; and in opposition to this, if he still persisted in this low connection, represented to him the certain penury that must attend the match. His own two thousand pounds she protested should be his all; she would never see him again; and so far would she be from affording him the smallest assistance, that if he were to enter into any profession with a view of better support, she would do all in her power to prevent him advancing in it.

Elinor answered that she did not know Mrs. Ferrars . Lucy apologized for the “impertinently curious” question, saying that she was in an uncomfortable...
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...keep the secret of the engagement. Because Lucy did not have a fortune, she feared Mrs. Ferrars would not approve of Edward marrying her. She told Elinor that Edward had been staying...
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Chapter 24

...Lucy said that Edward’s love for her had been constant. She said that she worried Mrs. Ferrars would disinherit Edward if she married him, so they had to wait until Mrs. Ferrars...
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Chapter 34

John and Fanny invited Elinor, Marianne, Mrs. Jennings, the Steeles, and the Middletons to dinner. Mrs. Ferrars was supposed to attend, and Elinor was eager to see what she was like, though...
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...able to attend, much to Elinor’s relief. At the dinner, Elinor and Lucy finally met Mrs. Ferrars , “a little, thin woman, upright, even to formality, in her figure, and serious, even...
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Mrs. Ferrars appeared to dislike Elinor, but Elinor did not care much, since she knew Mrs. Ferrars...
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Colonel Brandon admired the paintings. Mrs. Ferrars looked at them and upon hearing that Elinor had painted them, she dismissed them “without...
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Elinor had seen enough of Mrs. Ferrars to get a sense of her character and was almost happy that she wasn’t engaged...
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...sure she could spend time there with Edward. She continued to talk about how much Mrs. Ferrars appeared to like her, and was interrupted only by the chance arrival of none other...
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Chapter 37

Elinor was anxious to hear what Mrs. Ferrars would do when she found out about Edward’s engagement. She told the news to Marianne...
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...anyone else over the situation. The next morning, John came to visit, and described how Mrs. Ferrars suffered and was “in agony” when she heard of Edward’s engagement. She disinherited Edward and...
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...pitied Edward’s situation, and then left. Marianne, Elinor, and Mrs. Jennings all disapproved of how Mrs. Ferrars had handled the situation.
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Chapter 38

Anne spoke of how rudely Mrs. Ferrars , John, and Fanny behaved with the matter of Edward’s engagement, before having to leave....
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Chapter 41

John said that Mrs. Ferrars was unaware of the recent news and said that he thought she and Edward would...
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...of view, as he had received Edward’s former fortune. John then told her that, although Mrs. Ferrars would have opposed a union between Edward and Elinor, it would have been preferable to...
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Chapter 49

...lost” Edward’s love, and that she had fallen in love with Robert. Elinor wondered how Mrs. Ferrars would take this news, but Edward said that Robert was her favorite, so he would...
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...girl,” and her pity for Edward. John also wrote Elinor a letter, saying how unfortunate Mrs. Ferrars was, as neither of her children married wealthy women. John hinted to Elinor that he...
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Chapter 50

Mrs. Ferrars eventually did forgive Edward, and called him her son again. He told her of his...
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Mrs. Ferrars visited Edward and Elinor and made a pretense of “decent affection,” though her “real favour...
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...was gradually forgiven by her, as well. Before long, Lucy and Robert were closer to Mrs. Ferrars than Edward and Elinor were.
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